Nice to see that busybee got real with their prices. I posted a thread not long ago looking for another canadian supplier for the minilathe, and came up dry.
The 7 X 8 is kind of short, but would be very rigid.
I agree that if you want to spend a grand, go for the 10 X 18 lathe without question.
Now that the price has come down I may consider the busy bee lathe. I want to CNC it but also keep it small. I would rarely if ever cut something between the centres, so I could take the tail stock off and have some room to move.
There is a wealth of info about the 7 X 8 - 10 - 12 lathe's online. And there are a million mods and parts available for it. They are all made in the same factory (from what I have read) to different specs. metric leadscrews are a nice feature of the busy bee lathe (for me anyway)
cheers,
Colin |